A Different Point of View-Combating Writer’s Block

Do you get anxious when the well seems to have run dry? I do. I get nervous, antsy, anxious, etc., when I cannot write. Some days that damned blank page just seems to glare back at me in defiance!

I try to post something here several times a week. If I can’t, it really bothers me. It surprises me how much it bothers me. A friend of mine said, “We write because we must write“. I find this to be extremely accurate.

So what do you do when you’ve got that dreaded Writer’s Block? I have found that what seems to work for me is to simply step back and find a different point of view.

Let me give you an example.

I had an amazing photo prompt that I was trying to write a poem for. Nothing came. Well, that’s not true. Nothing postable came. I tried for days! I’d step away from it (which helps sometimes) and go back to it at a later time and try again. Nope. Didn’t work.

What I finally did was to look at different versions of this photo. I found one I liked and boom! About 15 minutes later, I had a poem that I would say is one of my best.

So try a different perspective. A different point of view. You might just be surprised at what comes from it!

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14 thoughts on “A Different Point of View-Combating Writer’s Block”

I had this happen with a recent Artists/Writers Collaboration event. The writers wrote a poem or short story to go with a piece of artwork and the artists painted or created some art to go with a writers piece. I was paired with an artist who did modern art. He told me of his trip to Italy and describe what he saw. It was a mish-mash of colors to me. Nothing came for weeks. One day I was sitting across from it and looked at it from the side. Amazing what I saw from that angle! There was a blue canal, a gondola, a soldier waving, several flags, etc. It was easy to write a poem about it.

I use stepping back as you did here and it helps. It also helps to write down a title, or a word or two or a phrase and let it percolate! (like in a Word Bank) I have been participating in Jo Hawk’s Write Everyday Challenge and I am really loving it! It’s this simple – write at least one sentence everyday – no matter what! Once you do something for 21 days it becomes a habit and writer’s block isn’t so scary! I have found that the format of Haiku is a real life saver for me. Think of a word or topic and then start tapping 5 syllables for line one, 7 syllables for line 2 and, 5 syllables for line 3 and presto you’ve written something for the day. Works for me, Ha!
xoxoxo

If I can’t think of anything, that’s pretty much what i do – I look through photos until one screams at me and then I write it. Of course prompts are like that, except I don’t chose them, but they all do have a thousand stories to tell…